Do We Really Need to Keep Saying It?
Don’t Discipline Employees for Cultural Hairstyles!
On September 21st, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act. The bill, which bans racially-based hair discrimination, now sits in the Senate for consideration.
This isn’t the first time we’ve discussed the CROWN Act as more, and more, and even more cities and states have passed their own legislation. As it stands, there are 7 states (California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Maryland) that have joined the party.
If the CROWN Act were to pass the U.S. Senate, it would forbid employers throughout the
nation from refusing to hire a candidate or taking action against an employee “based on the
individual’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated
with a particular race or national origin.” This would include hair which is “tightly coiled or
tightly curled,” as well as “locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros.”
StraightforWARD Legal Advice:
Even if the legislation does not pass the Senate, the CROWN Act shows no sign of slowing at the state and municipal level. Recognizing this, and also recognizing that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” I’m going to sign off this article by copy & pasting from our previous articles:
Companies should consider, regardless of their municipality or state, removing ambiguous
grooming policies and updating anti-bias training to prevent racial discrimination. If you have any questions about the CROWN Act, please contact Jennifer Ward at 215-647-6601 or jward@thewardlaw.com.